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Take over road: Residents

Residents of Woodridge Road, a private road in Elizabethtown-Kitley Township just west of the city boundaries, have asked the municipality to assume ownership of it.

The 23 residents of the private road want the township to take over responsibility for the "main" portion of the road - around 600 feet - to bring it up to an acceptable standard and maintain the 600-foot section from County Road 2 to the community mailboxes.

"The road is in terrible shape," said Joe Brunner, resident and chairman of the Woodridge Road Committee.

He said some of the problems that make the road inadequate are its traffic use/volume, drainage and the change in water flow as a direct result of many building permits issued along County Road 2 and Woodridge Road with "no consideration for the effect on Woodridge Road."

"It's a very unique situation because there are a lot of private roads going to the river, but there aren't any private roads with 23 homes on it."

The road was built more than 50 years ago as a private service road to provide access to summer cottages. This community is now primarily full-time homes that are, as Brunner put it, burdened by an inadequate road.

"This is all because the drainage has changed," he said.

The effects of development surrounding the road have been gradual and it is hard to pinpoint any specific building or property, he said, but added it's more a result of a poor drainage plan.

Mayor Jim Pickard said council isn't opposed to the idea of converting the road from public to private, but they want to explore all available options before making a decision.

"Council wants to give them a fair hearing," Pickard said Friday.

He said while the township has assumed ownership of private roads before, there are several issues officials must consider. Once it becomes a public road, they need to ensure the road maintenance equipment like snowplows can actually get down the road, and then make sure there's a place to push the snow.

"So there's a number of issues to look at. To me it's more about the conversion of a portion of a private road to be taken over and maintained at the public's expense."

Brunner said, however, the road committee has over $12,000 in its maintenance account and they "would be prepared to use these funds to assist the township in severing the road and doing some needed substrate and drainage work."

Pickard said if the township were to consider the idea, the landowners would need to bring the road up to current standards before it is assumed by the township.

Brunner said collectively, the residents pay over $100,000 in taxes and are just asking to be respected as taxpayers.

"We don't want to be looked at specially because we pay more taxes than other people, but we want to at least get to the average," he said.

"It's a road that serves the community, and we can't look after it because you guys have basically hampered us with all these building permits changing the drainage in the area over the last 40-50 years."

He admitted the issue is "so complex we don't even have the answers to it," but put the ball in the township's court to make the next move.

Pickard said staff is currently coming up with a variety of options on how the township can proceed, and the matter will be addressed once again at a committee of the whole meeting at a date to be announced.